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There are no plans for a public memorial service to mourn the
loss of Heath Ledger, his US publicist confirmed today.

There was speculation a public memorial service would be held in
Los Angeles ahead of Ledger's funeral in Perth next week.

Ledger's family is in Los Angeles today after flying in from
Perth yesterday via New York.

A memorial service is still expected to take place in LA, the
city that made him a worldwide star, but it will only be open to
family and close friends, including many of the stars and directors
who worked with him during his 20-plus film career.

"There are no plans for a public service," Ledger's US-based
publicist Mara Buxbaum said in an email to The New York Times
newspaper.

Ledger's family has reason to hold its memorial services in
private as some US religious groups have vowed to picket any
service to protest the actor's portrayal of a gay cowboy in
Brokeback Mountain.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, speaking in New York
yesterday, said it was his understanding a public memorial service
had been proposed to take place in Los Angeles.

Friends of the Ledger family, including Perth model Sophie Ward,
have also hinted at an LA memorial service followed by a funeral in
Perth where the talented actor would be laid to rest.

Ledger's family is keeping its plans secret.

The 28-year-old actor's body was removed from New York's Frank
E. Campbell funeral home yesterday in a wooden crate for the long
journey home to Perth.

A cause of death will not be announced by the New York Medical
Examiner's Office for at least a week when the results of
toxicology tests are known.

New York police investigating the death found six types of
prescription drugs in Ledger's Manhattan apartment, including pills
to treat insomnia and anxiety.

Police sources say the most likely cause of death is an
accidental drug overdose with prescription drugs as there was no
evidence he had died from "foul play" or had attempted to commit
suicide.

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